


all of the lights

by dearmoonlight



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Childhood Friends, M/M, Prompt Fill, Stargazing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, or kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23448601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearmoonlight/pseuds/dearmoonlight
Summary: Butbeing here, with Ritsu, makes him feel special and warm andwantedall at once. And maybe that’s how childhood feels like, maybe he has to cut the thread that binds him to all of this to grow up. But a deeper part of him understand that it has nothing to do with being a kid. It’s about Ritsu. Somehow, it always ends up being about Ritsu.
Relationships: Isara Mao/Sakuma Ritsu
Comments: 12
Kudos: 54





	all of the lights

**Author's Note:**

> -throws a kiss to the sky- this one if for you, Nia.

Mao is ten and three quarters when he sticks glow in the dark stars to his bedroom ceiling.

Now, Mao is a very, very proper young man. So, of course, he buys an astronomy book and spends hours trying to get it right in a realistic kind of way. Mao makes a whole sky of constellations as he stands on his tiptoes over a chair, taking his sweet time to calculate the gap between the little plastic stars. And, when he runs out of them, asks his mother to buy at least four packages more in the little store where they found them first.

Ritsu thinks it’s stupid. He doesn’t say it out loud, but Mao has been his friend long enough to know what’s hiding behind those judgemental red eyes of his. He’s probably feeling neglected, like a lonely cat waiting for some scratches. 

Mao would say it’s getting overbearing, the way Ritsu clings to him like he’s a lifesaver. But he’d be lying. Feeling indispensable, an essential being in the life of another person, makes his stomach twirl and jump in a pleasant way. 

To some extent, the absolute trust Ritsu places in him is liberating. He needs Mao the same way he did when they were both even younger and Mao tried to straighten him up in front of the table so he could do his homework instead of falling to sleep: sincerely and simply. Ritsu has always asked for much, but somehow it has never been difficult to give it to him.

Ritsu relocates in its place, still laying in Mao’s bed. He yawns, obviously making an effort to keep his eyes open.

“You can take a nap while I finish, you know?” Mao says, as he sticks the last star of the Mizugame constellation. “Or do your homework.”

Ritsu, a year older and more experienced, manages to raise an eyebrow. It’s a feat he has achieved in the last three months, probably mimicking his brother, and he’s very fond of the gesture now. Or so one would think, taking into account that he does it at least thrice a day.

“Well, you should!” Mao lets out a tired sigh, knowing that the battle is already lost. Ritsu won’t start his homework until Mao sits down with him and makes him.

“And you should take a rest, Maakun~” Ritsu’s voice is weary, tone low. He’s close to falling asleep, Mao doesn’t need to be a genius to know that. “You’ve been at that for the last three days.”

Mao wrinkles his nose. Of course he had. He’s a ten (almost eleven!) years old trying to calculate a new scale for the celestial map of his book. And he also has to wake up Ritsu in the mornings, go to school, do his homework, make sure that Ritsu doesn’t skip his and then practise with the guitar for at least half an hour. That leaves little time for his glow in the dark stars.

Anyway, he knows it’ll be worth it once he’s done with it.

“Maakun” Ritsu whines. He gets up then, Mao can tell by the hissing sound of sheets falling. He looks from the corner of his eyes for a second before turning his attention back to the glued star between his fingers. It should go next to aquila. “I’m feeling lonely.”

He pulls on his shirt, and Mao is close to losing his balance. He turns his face to Ritsu, trying to fix him with his best angry stare. Ritsu doesn’t tear his gaze apart from his, bordering on apathetic.

“I’m almost done” Mao complains, letting out a resigned sigh. This is another lost battle, and he knows it. Can’t blame a boy for trying, though. “Can’t you wait for a few seconds?”

Ritsu seems close to pouting, which makes Mao’s will tremble. Ritsu is too selfish for his own good, and he’s sure that following every wimp just for the sake of feeling useful and wanted it’s not going to help him getting rid of his bad habits. 

And yet. 

Rei has been abroad for the last week, Mao knows. Sakuma things, their parents have said. He’s still too young to understand what that means, how far do that obligations to their blood go, but he knows how much Ritsu misses his big brother - how the always silent house seem even lonelier and he sleeps even more, as if that could make the time pass faster. 

Mao rolls his eyes, but the softness of his gaze betrays him when he jumps from the chair to the floor. Ritsu hands immediately reach for his shirt.

“You’ll have to help me later.” Mao warns, and Ritsu grins.

“But Maakun is so much better at this~” Ritsu pulls him as he takes a few steps backwards, and Mao has no doubt he’s searching for the bed. “I would mess up your perfect placed stars.”

“You’re just trying to get out of it.”

Ritsu’s smile is almost playful, and Mao thinks he has enough friends to afford himself drowning one with a pillow.

Ritsu coaxes him until they’re both laying in the bed, just two kids facing each other in the artificial light of his room. Mao can physically feel his own breath hitching for a second at the way Ritsu is looking at him, impossibly bright red eyes full of something he can’t still put a name on.

Not yet. Maybe someday.

“Maakun likes to work wa~y too much.” Ritsu says, and his voice is almost a whisper, not loud enough to disrupt the warm feeling that’s starting to fog Mao’s mind. “You should take a rest sometimes.”

“Ritchan likes to rest wa~y too much.” Mao echoes, but he doesn’t protest when Ritsu intermingles their finger in a gentle hold that makes his skin tickle. “I won’t take a nap, I’m not a _preschooler_.”

“Okay” Ritsu yawns, and he tucks his head under Mao’s chin. "You can just watch me sleep, then." His breath collides against the skin of his neck with every inspiration, and something...tender and soft stirs in Mao’s stomach. Ritsu is small, even for their age, and he's always been a weak child, skin of porcelan and eyes of ruby. It would be incredibly easy for Mao to circle his whole body with his arms as he closes his eyes.

They might be getting too old for this.

“Besides” Mao adds, and he reaches for the switch, turning the lights off with a gentle _click_. The gesture gets him a little away from the warmth of Ritsu’s body, but he never lets go of his hand. "I like what comes off my hardwork."

Ritsu cares enough for Mao's silent petition to roll into his back, at least, and then they’re both looking at the stars in the ceiling, giving out a soft green glow, turning the atmosphere into something magical and private and entirely _theirs_.

Mao pries his gaze away from the stars long enough to see the gentle smile in Ritsu’s lips as he looks up. He gives a light squeeze to his fingers, but neither of them say anything for a few moments. They just stay there, hand into each other’s, skin warm where their arms meet. And Mao think again that they’re getting too old for this. At some point they’ll have to stop, because his dad says that it’s weird for two people to sleep in the same bed and hold hands to school and hug too much once they’ve reached a certain age. Especially, he adds then, if the two persons in question are _boys_.

 _But_.

“Well, I guess that everything Maakun does is worth it in the end~” 

Mao lets out a weak laugh, and he doesn’t have to look at Ritsu again to know he’s smiling.

 _But_ being here, with Ritsu, makes him feel special and warm and _wanted_ all at once. And maybe that’s how childhood feels like, maybe he has to cut the thread that binds him to all of this to grow up. But a deeper part of him understand that it has nothing to do with being a kid. It’s about Ritsu. Somehow, it always ends up being about Ritsu.

Mao sighs, content. He almost gets lulled to sleep by the familiar sound of Ritsu’s breathing by his side, fulfilled by the proof of his hard work glittering in the dark. That’s until he catches sight of something that hits him like a truck. A wave of sheer terror strikes him. Mao sits up in a quick movement, his neck bent to keep looking up, and he can hear Ritsu’s drowsy complain by his side.

“Isn’t Vega a little too much to the left?”

Ritsu sighs and pulls him in. He’s surprisingly strong for such a small child. Mao can’t even think about what’s happening, but after two seconds Ritsu’s face is buried against his shoulder, arms around his waist, hair tickling Mao’s cheek.

“Maakun” Ritsu says, and it almost sounds threatening. “Shut up and let me sleep.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so you know how this all goes- english is not my mother language and I'm facing a stupid writer's block that's going to be the end of me. So!! I opened request on twitter! And my friend @mikeirix asked for Ritsumao + stargazing.
> 
> It was supposed to be a drabble, but it got...out of hand.
> 
> Anyway, follow me at @nozomumelody and talk ritsumao to me-- And thank you tons for reading!


End file.
